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Natural Resources

The natural resources collections offer centuries of evidence about how Americans have used the bounty of the American continent and coastal waters. Artifacts related to flood control, dam construction, and irrigation illustrate the nation's attempts to manage the natural world. Oil-drilling, iron-mining, and steel-making artifacts show the connection between natural resources and industrial strength.

Forestry is represented by saws, axes, a smokejumper's suit, and many other objects. Hooks, nets, and other gear from New England fisheries of the late 1800s are among the fishing artifacts, as well as more recent acquisitions from the Pacific Northwest and Chesapeake Bay. Whaling artifacts include harpoons, lances, scrimshaw etchings in whalebone, and several paintings of a whaler's work at sea. The modern environmental movement has contributed buttons and other protest artifacts on issues from scenic rivers to biodiversity.

This turbine water meter was made by the Badger Meter Manufacturing Company in Milwaukee, Wisc. The serial number (1,329,421) dates from 1936. It fits ⅝” or ¾” pipes, and has a capacity of 17.5 gallons per minute.

The Badger Meter Manufacturing Company in Milwaukee, Wisc., developed the AZTECA water meter in the early 1930s after receiving an order for 30,000 water meters for Mexico City. The AZTECA was a rotary, multijet device that was simple, durable, and accurate. It had a split case, and so could be used in places where water did not normally freeze. This example fits a ⅝” pipe, and has a capacity of 15 gallons per minute. The serial number (1,544,940) dates from 1937.

This is a rotary multijet water meter made by the Badger Meter Manufacturing Company in Milwaukee, Wisc. It fits a ⅝” pipe, and has a capacity of about 13 gallons per minute. Its split case was designed for use in areas where water did not normally freeze. The serial number (1,140,258) dates from 1933. Badger trade literature for this meter boasted that “Simplicity of Design Assures Long Life of Operation.”

This disc water meter has a split case that has been cut away to reveal gears and chamber. It was made by the Badger Meter Manufacturing Company in Milwaukee, Wisc. It fits a ⅝” pipe, and has a capacity of 26 gallons per minute.

This is a disc water meter with frost-proof bottom and serial number 3,143,709. It fit a ⅝” pipe, and was made by the Pittsburgh Equitable Meter Company in the mid-1940s. Pittsburgh Equitable described it as “an instrument unsurpassed in the water measurement field,” explaining that it had “a bronze upper case and a brass lined cast iron breakable bottom plate, amply heavy and strong enough to withstand pressure far in excess of that encountered under ordinary conditions of service, the bottom plate, however, designed to break when exposed to the excessive strain imposed by freezing.”

This is a disc water meter with frost-proof bottom and serial number 1,571,523. It fit a ⅝” pipe. The Pittsburgh Equitable Meter Company declared that it “will meet the requirements of the most exacting user, as to accuracy, durability and low maintenance cost.” It was “equipped with a bronze upper case and a cast iron breakable bottom plate, amply heavy and strong enough to withstand pressure far in excess of that encountered under ordinary service conditions, but designed to break when exposed to excessive strain imposed by freezing.” “Only materials that pass our strict laboratory tests, and comply with our rigid specifications are used in its construction, and the most skilled workmen employed in machining, assembling and proving.”

This is a disc water meter with split case and serial number 439,868 that fit a ⅝" pipe. It was made by the Buffalo Meter Company in Buffalo, N. Y. The firm was founded in 1892 and brought out the first Niagara meter soon thereafter. The case of the Niagara meter was made of cast iron coated with zinc, for use in hard or corrosive water. This example was probably made in the 1930s. It has a disc of hard rubber reinforced with a metal plate. And it probably has jewel bearings for greater accuracy and durability.

This disc water meter has a frost-proof bottom and fit a ⅝” pipe. It was made by the Buffalo Meter Company in Buffalo, N. Y. The firm was founded in 1892, brought out the first Niagara meter soon thereafter, and introduced the breakable frost bottom in 1921. In this example, the case is made of cast iron coated with zinc, suitable for use with hard or corrosive water. It has a disc of hard rubber reinforced with a metal plate. And it probably has jewel bearings for greater accuracy and durability. The BFI-ENARC HOOD was probably added by a user or dealer.

Ref: Buffalo Meter Company, American and New Niagara Water Meters (1925)

This disc water meter has a frost-proof bottom and it a ⅝” pipe. It was made by the Buffalo Meter Company in Buffalo, N. Y. The firm was founded in 1892, brought out the first Niagara meter soon thereafter, and introduced the breakable frost bottom in 1921. In this example, the case is made of cast iron coated with zinc, suitable for use with hard or corrosive water. It has a disc of hard rubber reinforced with a metal plate. And it probably has jewel bearings for greater accuracy and durability. The BFI-ENARC HOOD was probably added by a user or dealer.

Ref: Buffalo Meter Company, American and New Niagara Water Meters (1925)

This disc water meter with split case fit a ⅝” pipe. It was made by the Buffalo Meter Company in Buffalo, N. Y. The firm was established in 1892, brought out the first Niagara meter soon thereafter, and the first American meter around 1900. The interior parts of the two meters were the same, but the American had a bronze case, and so could be used where the water is not particularly hard or corrosive.

Ref: Buffalo Meter Company, American and New Niagara Water Meters (1925)